AN EXPANDED COMMENTARY ON JOHN 10:9

"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
When Jesus used these words, what did He have in mind when He talked about being saved?
SAVED FROM WHAT?
SAVED FOR WHAT PURPOSE?
SAVED BY WHAT MEANS?
SAVED BY WHOM?

SAVED FROM WHAT? Answer! We are saved from the effects of SIN.
WHAT IS SIN? Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, in attitude, or nature.
The history of the human race as presented in Scripture is primarily a history of man in a state of sin and rebellion against God and of God's plan of redemption to bring man back to Himself.
In the very first pages of the Bible, we are told that "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time" (Gen. 6:5).
Jeremiah, the prophet, wrote, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jeremiah 17:9).
Paul, quoting from two of the best known psalms (Psalm 14:1-3; 53:1-3), declared: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one."
Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:10-18).
The Bible's teaching about SIN begins with the story of the fall of humanity recorded in Genesis 3. What is significant about the Genesis account is that the consequence of Adam and Eve's sin is described as death--not mere imperfection or a weakening of one's innate capacity to do good, but death: God said, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Two)

Most Bible readers recognize that God's warning was not merely about physical death (though it was that) but included spiritual death as well. Paul writes in Ephesians 2 these words: "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."
(Ephesians 2:1-3)
Man is dead as to his relationship with God is concerned. Prior to regeneration, a sinner has all the passive properties belonging to a corpse. Like a spiritual corpse, he is unable to make a single move toward God, think a right thought about God, or even respond to God, unless God first brings this spiritually dead corpse to life.
According to our Bible, to be a sinner is not merely to be morally imperfect or to be unable to achieve one's full potential without God. It is rather a description of human beings in an utterly ruined state, a state in which we might all have been left to perish, and justly so! Man is not equally bad, nor as bad as he could be, nor is he entirely destitute of virtue. But since the fall, man is actuated by wrong principles, he is wholly unable to love God or to do anything that would merit salvation or God's mercy and forgiveness.
Another way to speak of our sinful state is to say that men and women are enslaved to sin, so that they cannot escape from it.
Peter wrote, "a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him" (2 Peter 2:19). What has mastered us? There is a tradition in the church that identifies the Christian's three great enemies as "the world, the flesh, and the devil"; with that in mind, what Paul seems to be saying in Ephesians 2, though he does not use the word SLAVE, is that in our natural state we are in bondage to each one of these three. We are enslaved to the world because we follow "the ways of this world" (v.2). We think as the world thinks, without regard for our relationship to God or our final destiny; and because we think as the world thinks, we also act as the world acts.
We are enslaved to the flesh because our natural desire is to [gratify]...the cravings of our sinful nature and [follow] its desires and thoughts (v.3). We want what we want, regardless of God's law or the effect that what we want to do has on other people.

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Three)

Jesus said, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). We are enslaved to the devil because, just as we follow the ways of this world, so also we follow "the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient" (Ephesians 2:2). We are Satan's playthings, and never so much as when we are unaware of his presence. Paul wrote to Timothy that sinners are taken "captive" by Satan "to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:26).
The worst thing about our sinful condition apart from God's grace in Jesus Christ is that we are objects of God's wrath. Most people can hardly take this seriously! They do not take wrath seriously because they do not take sin seriously.
But if sin is as bad as the Bible declares it to be, nothing is more reasonable than that the wrath of a holy God should rise against it. "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).
"...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
SO, WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF SIN UPON HUMAN NATURE?
Sin brought death, spiritual death, and man lost that place of intimate fellowship with our Creator God. Sin gave us a heart that is at enmity with God. "...the carnal mind is enmity against God; for its is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). Sin made us enemies of God!
Sin brought us into slavery and the sinner has Satan as his master! Sin has made us the objects of God's wrath!
THUS, TO BE SAVED...MEANS THAT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD HAS BEEN DRASTICALLY CHANGED.
He is not longer our enemy, but is now our wonderful Heavenly Father. We are no longer living a life in rebellion to God's ways and His will, but our hearts find great joy and peace in doing what pleases God.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). We are no longer slaves of sin!
"But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Four)

heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness...but now, having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end, everlasting life" (Romans 6:17,22).
BUT BY WHAT MEANS DOES GOD SAVE US? Here is the Apostle Paul's answer:
"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation"
(Romans 5:6-11).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:36)
"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ"
(1 Thessalonians 5:9).
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12)
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:28).
We are saved when we place our trust in Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and repent of our sins. We respond to the call of the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. In addition to knowledge of the facts of the gospel and approval of those facts, in order to be saved, I must decide to depend on Jesus to save me. Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.
BUT WHY DID JESUS CHRIST HAVE TO DIE ON A CROSS IN ORDER TO SECURE MAN'S SALVATION?
Why was a sacrifice necessary? And what is so important about the blood?

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Five)

Again, the story of man's salvation begins in the early pages of the Bible. When God created man, He gave Him the capacity to make choices, and one of those choices was to disobey God and eat of the forbidden fruit. Thus, the beginning of sin. God provided a way for man to be forgiven. A Divine law was established that "without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin." Man was instructed to offer an animal whose blood must be shed in sacrifice.
The animal became the substitute of man and shed its blood so that man's sin could be forgiven. This was the sacrificial system which fills the pages of the Old Testament.
"When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Galatians 4:4-5).
"But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
(Hebrews 9:11-14)
The writer of Hebrews, speaking of Jesus, says: "Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, "Behold, I have come--in the volume of the book it is written of Me--to do Your will, 0 God. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:5-10).
"But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are be sanctified" (Hebrews 10:12).
AGAIN THE QUESTION...BY WHAT MEANS DOES GOD SAVE US? By sending Jesus Christ, His Son, who died on the cross as the Substitute for us, who shed His own precious blood for our cleansing. When we trust in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord, He forgives our sins and gives to us the gift of eternal life!

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Six)

We began our comments by asking a number of questions. Let's consider the purpose for which Christ's saves us.
"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:12-13).
The word which Paul uses for "CONVEYED" has a number of meanings and uses. In the ancient world, when one empire won a victory over another, it was the custom to take the population of the defeated country and transfer it lock, stock and barrel to the conqueror's land. Thus the people of the northern kingdom were taken away to Assyria, and the people of the southern kingdom were taken away to Babylon.
So Paul says that God has transferred the Christian to His own kingdom. That was not only a transference but a rescue; and it meant four great things.
(1) It meant a transference from darkness to light. Without God men grope and stumble as if walking in the dark. They know not what to do; they know not where they are going. Life is lived in the shadows of doubt and in the darkness of ignorance. When Bilney the martyr read that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, he said that it was like the dawn breaking on a dark night. In Jesus Christ, God has given us a light by which to live and by which to die.
(2) It meant a transference from slavery to freedom. It was redemption, and that was the word used for the emancipation of a slave, and for the buying back of something which was in the power of someone else. Without God men are slaves to their fears, to their sins and slaves to their own helplessness. In Jesus Christ, there is liberation.
(3) It meant a transference from condemnation to forgiveness. Man in his sin deserves nothing but the condemnation of God; but through the work of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for lost humanity, he discovers God's love and forgiveness. He knows now that he is no longer a condemned criminal at God's judgment seat, but a lost son who whom the way home is always open.
(4) It meant a transference from the power of Satan to the power of God! Through Jesus Christ man is liberated from the grip of Satan and is able to become a citizen of the kingdom of God. Just as an earthly conqueror transferred the citizens of the land he had conquered to a new land, so God in His triumphant love transfers men from the realm of sin and darkness into the realm of

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Seven)

holiness and light.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:4-10).
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself, His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11-14).
"This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24)
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10).
THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH CHRIST SAVES US IS TO TRANSFER US OUT OF THE KINGDOM OF SATAN AND DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS KINGDOM, AND

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Eight)

TO HAVE A PEOPLE WHO LIVE GODLY LIVES IN THIS WORLD. HE SAVES US SO THAT WE MIGHT PROCLAIM HIS PRAISES!
Now we come back to our passage in John 10 where Jesus said: "I am the door. If any one enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
Jesus is the only door that opens to peace and security. He is the only door that allows the sheep to go in and out. This was a common phrase used by Jews to express security and safety.
Jesus brings to the believer safety and security, peace and tranquility.
In the passage before us, Jesus' image is that of a flock of sheep in a threatening desert. Food and water are scarce. Predators are everywhere, and they know the sheep are vulnerable. Jesus' image is that of well-fed sheep whose shepherd knows how to lead them to pasture and water daily, and who at night gives them safe rest in the sturdy walls of the sheepfold.
Consider the wonderful blessings that flow from our Wonderful Shepherd...the benefits that are ours as Christians.
Peace!
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world, ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33)
Deliverance from the evil one!
"And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom; to whom be glory for ever and ever" (2 Timothy 4:18).
"But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil" (2 Thess. 3:3).
"I know Him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5).
His blessed presence will fill our lives!
"And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (Gen. 28:15).
We have the promise of heaven!
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it ware not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:1-3).